Fatality #7 - April 18, 2008

At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 18, 2008, a 43-year old continuous miner operator with 3 years 10 months of mining experience was fatally injured at Rosebud Mining Company's Little Toby Mine. The accident occurred while the victim was positioning a remote controlled continuous mining machine with an attached bridge conveyor system in a crosscut to the right. As the victim was attempting to position the continuous mining machine, the inby mobile bridge operator felt an unusual bouncing of the bridge conveyor and attempted to make radio contact with the miner operator. When no radio response was received the mobile bridge operator shut the unit down with the emergency stop switch. The inby mobile bridge operator crawled toward the face and discovered the victim pinned between the basket of the inby mobile bridge and the mine rib. 



The accident occurred because the mine operator failed to adequately implement existing policy and procedures designed to ensure that miners did not enter dangerous areas that presented pinch hazards such as the "Red Zones" established around remote controlled mining machines and mobile bridge conveyor systems.